Have a question not already answered in the links at left or on our main
FAQ page?
Ask it above.

Location: Australia

Member Since: Dec. 09, 2012

1 user has added this author as a favorite.

Cecily Anne Paterson

Biography

I'm a young adult/teen writer of realistic fiction all about friendships and relationships.

First up, some random facts. I've wanted to be a writer since I was seven years old. (I'm now a lot older than that!) I love cake, especially chocolate cake, and I really hate bananas. My favourite colour is turquoise blue. I wish I'd done ballet or tap dancing and I'd still like to do ballroom lessons one day. I'm not very good at sport. I'm not the worst, but I get all confused when they pass me the ball! I used to have my nose pierced. And no, the snot doesn't come out the hole when you sneeze.

More important stuff: I'm married to a guy who has red hair and we have a dog with the same colour fur, but none of our four kids ended up with the red hair. They all started out blonde, just like I did. Actually, they all started out bald, just like I did, and then turned blonde. For the record, we've got two boys and two girls which is kind of what I'd always hoped for. (I made big plans with my 'boyfriend' when I was five. We were going to get married and have two boys and two girls, but all their names were going to begin with R, which certainly hasn't happened!)

I was born in Australia but when I was 3 my parents moved our family to Pakistan where we lived until I was 16. We had regular visits back to Australia, but I really only liked it for its TV programs, chocolate and grandparents, none of which we had in Pakistan. I went to a British school for primary and then an international boarding school for most of my high school. I went to school every day with my friends, then went and had dinner with them, and then shared a dorm room at night. It was equal parts amazing fun and horrendous terrible. I know what it feels like to be a bit of an outsider, to have your friends leave, or to have big upheavals in your life. When I came back to Australia with my international, half-American, half-English accent everyone wanted me to "say something - it sounds so cute!" but it just sounded normal to me! (Now I sound like more of a regular Aussie. I tend to adapt.)

My aim is to write two books a year for the next ten years.

Smashwords Interview

When did you first start writing?

Really properly, about 8 years ago. I was asked to write a biography of a really interesting man who grew up as an orphan in Palestine in the second world war. He had no idea who he was or where he came from. He didn't even know his own birthday. I jumped at the chance and when they asked me how long I thought it would take, I said, "Oh, about 18 months." The next week I found out I was pregnant with my third baby, so I got it done in eight months.

What motivated you to become an indie author?

To be entirely honest, it was rejection. And lots of it. There are a limited number of publishers in Australia and I touted Invisible to all of them and then waited months and months only to be told, "No thank you." It got as far as me being asked to make some changes with Penguin Books, but in the end they didn't want it either. So I thought, "I'd rather have it out being read than sitting on my computer," so I published it myself.

Finally, everything is going right for 13 year-old Jazmine Crawford. After years of being invisible, she’s making friends, talking to her mum and hanging out with Liam. But what happens when everyone around her changes? Will getting back in touch with her grandma help her cope or just make things worse? And who’s going to finally give arrogant Angela what she deserves?

Friendships should be easy, right? You like someone, they like you, you get on. End of story. But what happens when things don’t go like you think they should? Cecily Paterson takes an honest, practical and Christian look at friendships in this book. You’ll find answers to your most asked questions, tips on how to start conversations and a look at some of the notable friendships in the Bible.

What do you say when your friend’s baby dies? What do you say when her second baby is tragically stillborn? Christian Authors Hannah Boland and Cecily Paterson wrote letters to each other for a year, beginning the month after Hannah’s second baby’s funeral. This correspondence is sometimes tragic, sometimes wry and often awkward, but is always honest and always looking for the way forward.

Thirteen year old fashionista Coco Franks has finally made it into the popular group when her dad decides to move the whole family to the country so they can 'bond'. Social death is looming, her shoes are covered in mud and all Coco wants to do is get herself back to her Sydney friends. After all, things can't get any worse, right?

Jazmine Crawford doesn’t make decisions. She doesn’t make choices. She doesn’t make friends. Jazmine Crawford only wants one thing: to be invisible. For Jazmine, it’s a lot easier to take out her hearing aid and drift along pretending that nothing’s wrong than it is to admit that she’s heartbroken

The story of a mom and a kid and their quest to not just survive, but to thrive in the face of an autism diagnosis. With faith in God, an insatiable desire to find the right therapy and with real honesty, Cecily Paterson helps parents of children with ASD feel like they are not alone. This book offers not only emotional support, but also practical information and resources.